


gin

by damnmysterytome



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Karen visits Frank in prison, and play cards, and they talk about love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6493372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnmysterytome/pseuds/damnmysterytome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Gin!” Karen exclaims, bouncing in her seat as she discards the card in her hand.<br/>Frank curses, seeing it was the five of hearts he needed. “You had my five,” He grumbles.<br/>Karen’s head turns and she looks at the clock. “We’ve got time for another game, wanna play again?” She asks, turning her head back to look at Frank.<br/>“Fine,” He grumbles, pretending to be miserable at the end of playing cards with Karen. “But I’m winning this time,”<br/>“Yeah, that’s what you said the last three times,”</p>
            </blockquote>





	gin

“Who’s the first person you ever said ‘I love you’ to?” Karen asks as she sets down a Jack of Hearts.. Frank looks up at Karen and furrows his brow before picking up her card. He sets with it in a specific spot within his own cards before selecting a card to put down. Three of spades.

“What?” Frank asks, looking at Karen like there was a strong possibility she’d gone crazy. After she repeated her question during her turn, picking up and setting down the seven of spades, Frank scoffs and rolls his eyes at her. 

Karen purses her lips and watches Frank take his own turn, setting down the card without switching it out. She doesn’t need the card either. “Just trying to make conversation.” Karen says, picking up the next card. Nine of diamonds. She has the 4, 6, 7 of diamonds, so she could keep the 9 and hope for an 8 instead of the 5. She sighs and sets the 9 down instead.

Frank picks up the four of hearts and switches it out with the seven of clubs in his hand, setting it in the discarded pile. “Sorry,” He mumbles, feeling a bit like an asshole. He asked her to come, not the other way around. He was just surprised she said yes, and even more surprised that the guards let her come in with a deck of cards and sit at the table playing cards. “My wife.”

Karen looks up as she picks up the king of diamonds, discarding it a moment later. “Really?” She asks. There’s a hint of regret on her face and Frank can’t tell if it’s because of the card she just dropped or asking him about his wife.

“Uh, huh.” Frank says, picking up the two of spades. He picks it up and sets it to the side with his other set of twos and discards the eight of diamonds in his hand. His lips turn up in a smile when Karen perks up and picks it up, discarding the eight of spades in its place. “She was a lot of firsts.”

Frank picks up and discards, keeping his eyes on his cards instead of Karen. He can hear a card get picked up and another get dropped in it’s place. He looks up and sees the card he just had was gone, leaning over to pick up a card, discarding it right away. “Sorry,” Karen murmurs.

He waves it off, she has nothing to be sorry for. “Yours?” He asks, watching Karen take her turn.

“I was six.”

“I didn’t mean your mom.”

“If the first time I said 'I love you’ to my mom was when I was six, I was a horrible kid.” Karen laughs, holding the stack of cards up to her face to hide her laugh. Even Frank lets out a small laugh. “She was the prettiest girl on the playground.”

Frank raises an eyebrow. “She?”

“Jessica Stevens.” Karen says, nodding at Frank. “Your turn, Frank.”  _Sorry._ He thinks, but forgets to say it. He picks up a card from the deck and, after a moment of thinking it over, discards it. Karen takes her turn, discarding the card she’d picked up. “Of course, I didn’t know what love was but… Still.”

Frank discards another card he doesn’t need, clearing his throat. “First time you knew what it was?”

“His name was Jon. He was dreamy, three years older than I was, oh God, I was so in love.” Karen laughs, discarding another card she didn’t need. “I should have known better, I was 15 and he was 18, but at that age…” Karen sighs and sets her hand on her chin as Frank takes his turn. “My Dad, he hated him, which made me like me more.”

Frank remembers dreading that age when he first found out the baby in his wife was a girl. He clears his throat as Karen takes her turn. “What happened to him?”

“He was an asshole. He um,” Karen takes a deep breath and shakes her head, pursing her lips as Frank once again forgets its his turn. She waves him on and he takes his turn, discarding a five of clubs. “He tried to force me into things I wasn’t ready for.” Frank’s fingers tighten around the cards briefly, stopping when he realizes he’s starting to bend them. “My best friend, Jessica Stevens, was so mad she took a baseball to his car, which was his baby.” Karen laughs and discards another card. “I never told my parents. I was always scared my Dad would… Tell me he told me so.” Her voice breaks at the end and sniffles, hiding her face with her cards for a moment.

Frank’s hand is slowly dismissing a card and he wishes he could comfort Karen in someway. His hands are still shackled to the table, so he can’t reach over to her. He also wishes he had that guys location so he could pay him a visit.

Karen pulls her cards from her face and mumbles an apology, using one hand to wipe a fallen tear.

“Don’t be,” Karen looks up at Frank and puts on a fake smile, picking up a card and setting it back down. “What brought that on? The question?” He asks.

Karen shrugs as Frank takes his turn. “I don’t know, I’ve just been thinking about… Stuff like that lately.”

“My girl, uh,” Karen looks up as Frank starts talking and she knows he means his daughter. She hangs on his every word when he talks about his children and his wife. “when she was real little, had trouble with v’s.” Frank and Karen are both discarding cards left and right while he talks, Karen barely paying attention to the card’s in her hands. “So she’d say 'I loe you, Daddy’. We tried to teach her about v’s but she couldn’t.” Karen laughs softly at the memory, two of her fingers resting on top of her lips.

The look in Frank’s eyes is distant and Karen can’t imagine how painful this is for him. She opens her mouth and goes to ask him something, but he cuts her off. “Ever think about having kids yourself?”

Karen shuts her mouth for a second, surprised at the question from Frank. “Not lately. When I was a kid, I always thought I would but now… No, not really.” She expects Frank to tell her that she should have kids, that it’ll change her life and she’ll be complete. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t say anything. “Frank, can I ask you something?”

“Yes, ma'am.” Frank says. They’re getting down to the last few cards and Frank wonders if he had missed his card earlier, or if Karen has it.

“Would you do it all over again? Marriage, kids, all that? Would you do it all over again if you knew this is what would happen?”

The question stings Frank, but he answers without missing a beat. “Without a second thought. They were the best part of my life,”

Karen and Frank both fall silent, going back and forth with the cards until Karen picks up the five of diamonds. “Gin!” Karen exclaims, bouncing in her seat as she discards the card in her hand.

Frank curses, seeing it was the five of hearts he needed. “You had my five,” He grumbles.

Karen’s head turns and she looks at the clock. “We’ve got time for another game, wanna play again?” She asks, turning her head back to look at Frank.

“Fine,” He grumbles, pretending to be miserable at the end of playing cards with Karen. “But I’m winning this time,”

“Yeah, that’s what you said the last three times,”

 


End file.
